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January 30, 2006

A somewhat frightening discovery: Update

I went to the imaging center this morning for my mammogram and ultrasound. I endured several painful sessions with the medieval torture device, also known as the mammogram machine. This was the first time I'd had one. I know some women feel mammograms are no big deal but this thing hurt! This might be because I am of the smaller persuasion. (Losing 47 lbs over a 2.5 year period hasn't left me very well endowed up top.) All I know is some parts of the female anatomy were not meant to be squished in such a manner. OK, I'm done whining... Moving on... After that they did an ultrasound of the lump itself. This was sort of neat because I was able to see what it looked like on the screen. Finally the doctor went over everything with me and said she felt I had very little to worry about. The lump is not a cyst but actually a solid mass so they were unable to aspirate it. (suction it out with a syringe) She actually gave me a name of what this thing was called but I haven't a clue what she said. (Gotta love that doctor speak) She said given my young age and family history that it was probably nothing to worry about. To be safe they scheduled me for a biopsy for next Monday, Feb. 6th so they can take samples. She described the biopsy procedure to me and it sounds fairly tame. Hell, after that damn mammogram I think I can take just about anything. I left there feeling pretty confident that I don't have anything to fret over so for any family members reading this... please don't worry! I'll post updates after the biopsy results come back to me.

Posted by pixelbrat at 2:14 PM | Comments (2)

January 29, 2006

A somewhat frightening discovery

While showering on Thursday night I discovered a small pea sized mass in my left breast. As you might imagine this is never a happy moment for a woman but I didn't really think I had too much to worry about. I didn't want to panic until I heard what my doctor had to say. On Friday morning I called my doctor and was lucky enough to get an appointment that very afternoon. After being examined my doctor was fairly confident that it's probably just a cyst and nothing to worry about. To be safe he referred me to one the breast imaging centers at Northside hospital to receive a mammogram and ultrasound. He assured me that there's an 80% chance that I'm completely fine and that I shouldn't lose any sleep over this. (A feat much easier said than done when you have a grandmother who has been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer) When I got back to work I called the breast imaging center and made an appointment, remarkably lucky again, for Monday morning at 8 AM. They should be able to tell me that morning if I have anything to worry about. For the most part I think I'm going to be fine and this thing truly is just a cyst or something else equally benign. I'll report back on Monday night with the findings. Wish me luck.

Posted by pixelbrat at 1:18 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2006

Free time

I'm a bit late in posting this but better late than never, right? Justin went home a day early, on Thursday, Jan. 12th. Of course, he's thrilled to be back in comfortable surroundings again. He has adjusted well to being at home, having already conquered going up and down stairs and showering on his own. He started his outpatient therapy at the Shepherd Pathways facility last week as well and is doing better than expected. 

Now that I have some free time on my hands I decided to redo my art gallery on my website. I've added a bunch of work, some old stuff from my high school and college days as well as some more recent work. It has been organized into categories for easier navigation. You can view the new gallery by clicking here or using the link at the top of the page. Putting this gallery together really made me realize how much I need to get off my butt and do some new artwork. I've got a few crafty projects I've been itching to try so maybe I'll have more stuff to add before long. Click around and try not to laugh too hard... I did some of that stuff in high school...

Posted by pixelbrat at 9:36 PM

January 6, 2006

Day 52: Justin gets a release date

It's official, Justin gets to go home from the Shepherd Center on Friday, January 13th. (Yes, you read that right... Friday the 13th.)  This is a full 2 weeks earlier than we were initially told by his doctors.  Justin has been improving so quickly that he is basically too "advanced" to need to be hospitalized full time.  By no means is the healing and hard work over for Justin.  He will continue his rehabilitation on an outpatient basis by going to the Shepherd Pathways facility 5 days a week for the next several weeks.  

Another article was published in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution Living section on Thursday, Jan 5th.  I wasn't able to copy the text but have scanned the actual article.  You can view it by clicking this link. (It opens a new window)  Unfortunately it's a wee bit out of date, due in part to my lack of blog updates lately.  In my attempt to make up for that I'll give you a quick rundown of how he's doing now.  

Strength/Mobility:  Overall he is doing pretty good in this area.  He is able to take short walks on his own, unassisted, but still needs someone to stand nearby to catch any stumbles.  We anticipate he will be even better after this coming week of therapy before he goes home.

Facial Paralysis/Hearing:  The left-side facial paralysis continues to be a problem.  He is still unable to close his left eye or move the left side of his mouth.  He has been evaluated by an ENT specialist and it was determined he does not have a pinched nerve.  His skull is still fractured back behind his left ear so this is probably a contributing factor.  No word yet on how this will be dealt with or if it can even be repaired.  While testing his hearing the ENT noted large amounts of dried blood in his left ear.  He had to suction this out which was extremely painful.  Justin said his hearing in that ear was fine until after the suctioning procedure and now is reduced by half.  We're hoping this is just due to swelling from the procedure but we're not sure.  He will be re-evaluated at a later time to monitor that hearing loss.  

Speech:  This is great and nearly back to normal.  He is slowly learning to accommodate for the paralysis on the left side of his mouth and speaks at a normal speed now.  He is quite the chatterbox these days.  I guess if I were stuck in a hospital for weeks on end I would be too. 

Eyesight:  Justin has a lot of trouble reading.  This is partly a problem with word comprehension and partly due to his left eye not lining up quite right with the right eye.  This will continue to be monitored. 

Memory/General brain function:  He still has some short term memory loss but it is much better than it was.  He is now able to keep his days and nights straight.  He also seems to be better with keeping the number of days that have gone by straight but this might still need a little bit of work.  One of his biggest problems that he struggles with is word-finding.  In conversations he struggles with pinpointing some of the common words he wants.  If he is talking quickly he might give someone the wrong name or use the wrong word here or there.  He's aware of it and finds it very frustrating but knows that this will improve with time.

Appetite:  This has completely returned to normal.  He eats it if it isn't tied down.  As a result, his PEG tube (feeding tube) was removed yesterday, much to his relief.  His sweet tooth has returned with a vengeance as well.  Fortunately, his boss, Libby Whittemore (of Libby's Cabaret in Atlanta) came to the rescue and brought Justin a gift bag of all his favorite sweets.  Like me, he is a connoisseur of sour candy so his tongue is completely raw from all the citric acid he has consumed.  

Although Justin has been doing amazingly well he still has a lot of hard work ahead of him as well as some tough realities to face.  Due to his brain injury it is now illegal for him to drive a car.  This skill will likely return with hard work (and a doctors release) but from what I understand the driving test is much tougher than what the DMV considers passing.  He has also learned that he should stop drinking alcohol completely as this could result in seizures.  This problem will not go away with time.  It's not just alcohol but anything that reduces oxygen to his brain, like drugs or even snoring/sleep apnea.  As you might imagine this is an extremely tough pill for him to swallow.  Despite these hurdles he has a really good attitude about the work ahead of him and his life in the future.  This new lack of freedom and ability has pushed him to work even harder at his therapy.  He understands that he is truly lucky (and blessed) to be alive today and says he wants to make changes to his life going forward.  With this new positive attitude I am thrilled and confident that he will succeed.

Posted by pixelbrat at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)